Apr 2020

On April 2nd the newly established General Assembly to Fight Coronavirus in Herat, held a launching ceremony hosted by the Afghanistan Institute for Strategic Studies (AISS) in Kabul. AfD’s Country Director, Khushal Nabizada, presented the findings of the study titled: “Impact of Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions to Reduce COVID-19 Mortality”, conducted by the Imperial College London. The recommended strategies for preventing and controlling the spread of COVID-19 were evaluated for application in the context of Afghanistan.

The recommended non-pharmaceutical interventions are as follows:

Isolation of suspected cases:

Suspected cases are to stay at home for 7 days, reducing non-household contact by 75% during this period.

Voluntary home quarantine:

In case of identification of a symptomatic case in a household, all household members remain at home for 14 days.

All households must reduce contact outside the household, school or workplace by 75%.

Workplace contact rates will be reduced by 25%

Closure of schools and universities:

There must be closure of all schools; only 25% of universities will remain open.

By applying these non-pharmaceutical interventions, the healthcare demand would be reduced by 2/3 and the mortality by half. Khushal Nabizada was honored to attend this meeting and to present the findings of the study.